England is at war with itself. King Charles and Parliament each gather soldiers to their banners. Across the land men prepare to fight for their religious and political ideals.
Civil war has begun. A war that will rip families asunder and change everything.
You know, if learning about things you were generally clueless about was always this much fun, the world might be a shinier place than it is right now. Sadly, that’s not going to happen, but at least history stands a chance with writers like this championing it.
I’ll freely admit that what I knew about the English civil war before opening The Bleeding Land could have been jotted down on the back of a postage stamp. It wasn’t on our school curriculum other than in a passing mention; two, perhaps three sentences to sum up such a bitter conflict. So I opened the covers with equal parts anticipation and trepidation- the last thing I wanted to find lurking in there was a political thriller. Intrigue, innuendo and the thousand possible meanings of a smouldering stare are wasted on me.
I really should've known better.
There’s a line from a Marilyn Manson ditty that goes ‘the death of one is a tragedy, but the death of millions is a statistic’ – it’s an insidious but undeniable truth. The reality of war loses its sting when it’s rendered down into faceless numbers. The battle of Stalingrad saw at least 1,970,600 casualties. It’s just a number you skim over. But each one of those was a life, each with its own story and The Bleeding Land, while set in a time of epic conflict, isn’t about the numbers. Far from it. It’s about a family caught up in that conflict, about the awful decisions they’re forced to make as the world they know crumbles around them and allegiances, both old and new, become matters to fight -or die- for. It’s about the all too real complexities and emotional toll of trying to balance heart against mind. And it was that solid grounding, combined with well realised characters which drew me in and made me care and coloured every single action sequence with tension.
The story centres on the fate of Edmund and Tom Rivers as they are drawn into the gritty, sordid reality of that war, and the consequences of the decisions that set them on different paths. Paths that you know are destined to collide and most likely with tragic results. Anyone who’s read Giles’ Raven series (and if you haven’t , you should, asap) will know how good he is at bringing his characters to life, and TBL proves no exception. The mad heroism is scaled back, and the pace is a steady one rather than the headlong rush of that series, but TBL is a different animal and the story benefits from it. The scope, research and smooth delivery that made Raven impossible to either ignore or put down shines through again, vividly evoking the chaos of battle and bloody glory of the age in with a definite and unmistakeable energy.
Marvellous stuff all round.
Buy it! Read it!
You can read our wee interview with Giles here, visit his website here or watch the amazing trailer:
We are so pleased to be able to host the exclusive trailer for Giles Kristian's new title: The Bleeding Land. Doesn't it look great?
Mark has finished reading the book - like I had any chance getting near it once he put his claim on it - and says it is a stonking read. He read it in two sittings. That says a helluva lot.
Enough chatter from me - here's the trailer!
The description about the book reads:
England 1642: a nation divided.
England is at war with itself. King Charles and Parliament each gather soldiers to their banners. Across the land men prepare to fight for their religious and political ideals. Civil war has begun.
A family ripped asunder.
The Rivers are landed gentry, and tradition dictates that their allegiance is to the King. Sir Francis' loyalty to the crown and his desire to protect his family will test them all. As the men march to war, so the women are left to defend their home against a ruthless enemy. Just as Edmund, the eldest of Sir Francis' sons, will do his duty, so his brother Tom will turn his back on all he once believed in...
A war that will change everything.
From the raising of the King's Standard at Nottingham to the butchery and blood of Edgehill, Edmund and Tom Rivers will each learn of honour, sacrifice, hatred and betrayal as they follow their chosen paths through this most savage of wars.
Having been bowled over by his Raven trilogy, I contacted Giles via twitter (@GilesKristian) to try lure him into a chat about the books. Fortunately no coercion was required as the enthusiasm he'd shown at the launch of Odin's Wolves was still very much in evidence.
Welcome to MFB, Giles and thank you for a cracking read!
MFB: What was the seed or catalyst for the story? What sparked it into life?
GK: Being half Norwegian, I spent many, many childhood holidays in and around the Norwegian fjords. I would imagine longships brimming with warriors setting off through the island channels towards the open sea, the men’s families waving them off, children running and jumping over rocks, calling out excitedly, trying to keep up. I would imagine the warriors themselves, full of bravado thought they knew they might never return. There is no doubt that the 1958 film The Vikings, starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis coloured my imagination and I remember even at that age thinking I’d rather be the ‘all out’ no-nonsense Viking (Douglas) than the film’s conflicted, moral-burdened hero (Curtis). We have a family cottage in the fjords and it’s my favourite place on earth. Even now, I get a palpable thrill from being in a land/seascape that, to all intents and purposes, appears to my eyes as it would have to a sea-raider’s eyes one thousand years ago. In that environment if a boy doesn’t think of Vikings then I feel sorry for him. But it was whilst on a stag weekend in Oslo that the vague story in my mind began to reveal itself, like a dragon ship prowing out of the fog.
We were visiting the incredible Viking Ship Museum and I was staring, utterly captivated (for the second time in my life) by the stunningly beautiful Gokstad Ship, dug out of the ground on a farm in Gokstad in 1880. Surrounded by my own crew of enthusiastic young men from foreign shores I got the notion that what we were engaged in was a little raiding trip of our own, not so different from those of days gone by, though perhaps the risks were less for us. Then again perhaps not. That sense of camaraderie, of a ‘fellowship’ in search of adventure was the ember that would become the flame of the RAVEN saga.
MFB: Which of the trilogy proved the most difficult to write?
GK: The third book, Odin’s Wolves, was the most difficult to write because in it I have tried to re-create, or at least give a believable impression of, Rome and Constantinople (or Miklagard – the Great City, to the Norsemen). My aim was to capture Rome in all its faded glory and Constantinople in all its magnificence. This is quite a challenge compared to describing a muddy Saxon village that is little more than a clutter of wooden dwellings and animal pens. Depictions of Rome in its heyday are everywhere, not least in historical fiction, but descriptions of Rome in the 9th century – fiction or non-fiction – are not all that easy to come. I wondered what kind of state it would have been in by then and wondered, too, how historical ruins might have been viewed by folk who are to us historical themselves. My aim was to try to give a sense of how extraordinary these great and ancient cities must have appeared to my Norsemen who have no reference for what they are seeing, no concept of such size, let alone the architecture, wealth, politics etc of such metropolises.
In one scene in Odin’s Wolves they come across a mosque. Bearing in mind that Raven himself is narrating the story (not the usual literary device of an all-seeing, all-knowing, omnipresent narrator whom the reader conveniently agrees not to notice or question) how would he describe a mosque, having never seen a domed building before? Even using the word ‘dome’ felt utterly wrong to me, almost anachronistic. So I had to have the Norsemen describe the mosque within the confines of their own framework of reference. Rather embarrassingly (but perhaps fittingly) to them the building’s shape conjures the image of a giantess’s breast, and so the mosque becomes Gerd’s Tit. (Don’t blame me!).
MFB: What kept you going when the going go a bit rocky?
GK: The emails I receive from readers make the whole experience of writing even more satisfying. To think that people take the time out of their busy day to express how much they’ve enjoyed the books is something I find amazing. Also, reading a good review makes my day, even though other authors I respect have told me to take little notice of reviews good or bad. (Yeah, right). But really, I don’t need much to keep me going. Being a novelist is an absolute joy and a privilege. There is nothing I would rather do.
MFB: You’ve certainly demonstrated a good grasp of the era and captured real feeling of ‘being there’. How did you get inside their minds so convincingly?
GK: I like to think that the sense of camaraderie amongst my motley crew is what keeps the reader rooting for them even though at times their behaviour can be somewhat poor even by 9th century standards. The good-natured insults, the banter, the arrogance and occasional insecurities that you find aboard Serpent or Fjord-Elk can be found in any football or rugby team’s dressing room, or in any army barracks around the world today. It’s a sense of belonging to something, being a part of something and sharing experiences. It’s really about friendship, I suppose. Warriors sometimes fight for ideals, or because they’re simply following orders, but mostly they fight for each other. That was the same then as now. So I don’t really think it’s too difficult to get inside their heads. It’s their clothes I wouldn’t fancy getting into (apart from Cynethryth’s. ha!). Imagine the scratchiness.
MFB: The guys from Urban Apache did a fantastic job with the prologue for Odin's Wolves, which I've embedded at the bottom of this post. How did that come about? And how does it feel seeing your characters coming to life beyond the pages?
GK: Urban Apache and director Phillip Stevens did an incredible job in bringing the prologue to glorious (goryous?) life for the big screen. I met Phil at one of my book launches and he gave me another short film he and his crew had made (Northmen) and I was so impressed I knew straight away that I wanted to work with them. Together we came up with the idea of making a book trailer that went beyond anything else we’ve seen out there for an historical fiction novel. The result is a 12 minute film, from which we cut two short trailers. It was an incredible experience! Cast and crew from near and far gathered in a longhouse in York one freezing day in January, and after several day’s shooting in various locations we had a film we are all enormously proud of. Raven himself (superbly played by David Clayton) is the only character from the books represented on screen (the rest are all long gone) and he blew my mind. His intensity and charisma as the ageing and proud warrior is as tangible as a Dane axe in the face. For me it was an honour to work with Urban Apache and you can take it from me that they are going places. Talent like that won’t be ignored. I only wish we could spread the word and get more people watching it, because to me it shows that talent and enthusiasm are more than a match for a big budget. Please help the film fly and pass it on to your friends if you enjoy it.
MFB:The covers of each book are very striking. Did you have any input into them?
GK: I am lucky that the design team at Transworld are top notch and really know how to make an (blood)eye-catching jacket. I do get involved in the cover designs to an extent, though only because I have worked with movie poster designers for several years and have some modest appreciation of the process. I remember for Blood Eye asking that the character’s face be much more heavily shadowed. I thought he was too clean-cut, too good looking to be a Viking. I also thought it would lend a sense of mystery and foreboding, which is never a bad thing to my mind. Plus, I thought the readers would assume the character on the cover was Raven himself, and rather than plant that image in their mind’s eye, I would rather each and every reader has their own mental image of what Raven looks like. When all’s said and done, I think it’s only fair that a book cover with my name on it should have my blessing. The last think you want is to let something go and then regret it every time you look at the cover. I think each of the RAVEN saga book jackets really capture, by way of colour palettes as well as visual themes, the spirits of each tale, and for that I have the Transworld crew to thank.
MFB: Did you have a series in mind when you started writing?
GK: The honest answer is that I had a series in mind but very little idea where the tale would lead. But one day in 2007 (three years after I’d begun writing Blood Eye) my agent phoned me in New York to say that Transworld were interested and that they wanted to see the outlines for the second and third books. I thought, doh! Better come up with something! Fortunately though, the Norns were busy weaving and it all turned out OK.
MFB: Do you write in silence and/or isolation, or to music? If the latter, what sort?
GK: Mostly I write in silence in my study at home. However, often if I’m writing a battle scene I’ll play movie soundtracks to inspire me, to perhaps echo the rhythms of the fight. I’ll play the gladiator score, or Kingdom of Heaven or Braveheart, Last of the Mohicans, or Lord of the Rings. Gets me in the mood and sometimes makes it feel less like work!
MFB: What’s the coolest thing you discovered while doing your research?
GK: I commissioned Nigel Carren , a master armourer, to hand make me a Viking helmet (all in the name of research of course) and I love it. It’s a 4-piece steel Spangen helmet with one-piece cross and nasal, and highly ornamented occularia. (The golden eyebrows above the eyeholes!) and is loosely based on the Gjermundbu helmet, the only example of a complete Viking helmet in existence. One can barely imagine how terrifying it would have been to come face to face with a warrior wearing something like this. It showed he had money and power and that he more than likely had the ability and inclination to carve you into pieces.
When I had come up with the idea for my next series (Civil War) I was at a book signing in Dorking when I walked past an antique dealer that had a three bar lobster tail pot helmet in the window. For me it’s the iconic image of the English Civil War and when I saw this particular helmet I just had to have it (again, all research you understand) and so in I went. To think that this helmet is 370 years old and that someone used to put it on hoping he’d make it through the day (literally) is quite something. I have been known to wear it whilst writing, to get a sense of what it feels like to be in the thing certainly, but mostly because when it’s on my head I just feel like causing trouble.
MFB: What are you currently working on? Will you be delving into the Viking world again?
GK: I have a new series beginning in April next year. It’s a trilogy set during the bloody and tumultuous years of the English Civil War and will be very different from the RAVEN saga. This series follows the (mis)fortunes of a family ripped apart during the struggles, with the reader spending time with each of the three central characters; two brothers and their sister. I have found the writing of it an extraordinary and at times moving experience and can’t wait for the release of the first book, titled The Bleeding Land. Nevertheless, I will certainly return to the Viking world, possibly even to my Fellowship from the RAVEN books. They are like old friends (the ones that I haven’t killed off!) and already I begin to I miss them.
MFB: I'll reserve some space on our shelves! Best of luck... now get back to work!
This is Urban Apache's awesome prologue for Odin's Wolves..
For two years Osric has lived a simple life, though he is feared and shunned for his mysterious part and blood-red eye. Then raiders from across the sea ransack his village and Osric is taken prisoner by this ruthless band of warriors.
Immersed in the Norsemen’s way of life and driven by their lust for adventure, Osric proves a natural fighter and forges a deep bond with their chief, Sigurd the Lucky, who renames him Raven.
But the Norsemen’s world is a savage one, where loyalty is often repaid in blood, and a young man must become a killer to survive. It seems the path Raven has chosen is a dangerous one indeed.
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Wow. Yes, after much deliberation, that’s how I’ve chosen to start this review. Because that was the word which sprang to mind when I picked up the Raven Blood-Eye on a Sunday morning, and again when I finished Odin’s Wolves on the following Friday.
The first of the series is Raven Blood Eye, which introduces Osric/ Raven, and how he falls in with the Norsemen who arrive at the village that has become his home. Osric isn't a native Englishman, or at least he's not sure if he is since he has no memories older than two years. Then the Norsemen arrive and he discovers a talent for their language, which becomes the gateway for his induction into their ranks and a world beyond anything he ever expected.
The second book in the series, Sons of Thunder, leaves the shores of England for the continent as Sigurd and his crew chase the traitorous Ealdred to the shores of the Frankish empire- an empire sworn to eradicate heathens like them. What follows is a combination of Ocean’s Eleven and the Great Escape, Viking style, as Sigurd and Raven risk everything for honour, love and gold.
Odin’s Wolves follows Sons of Thunder, and sees the Sigurd’s fellowship turning their prow towards the fabled city of Miklagard, seeking to sate their appetite for treasure and, perhaps more prized than that, a good saga that will see their names and deeds live on through the ages. It’s no easy journey, and takes them through frozen marshlands and the shadows of what was once the glory of Rome, but nothing will truly prepare them for what waits for them at what could be their final destination.
It’s always a wonder when you come across books that hook you from the outset and only tighten their grip along the way until you can reluctantly peel yourself away from them at the end. If you pick these up, do so in the knowledge that you will miss your train station, and look up from the page to realise that the rest of the house is in darkness because “another 5 pages” turned into “another 5 chapters”.
The source of their addictiveness lies with the depth and dynamism of the characters and their interactions, particularly Osric/ Raven and Sigurd. They’re distinct personalities, each with their own foibles and aspirations, bound together by a sense of loyalty that transcends the oaths they’ve sworn. They and the camaraderie between them are realised very well, leaving little room for doubt that they would take the risks that they are. It draws you in until you’re completely immersed in their world and not so much reading about it as sharing it.
Raven’s world has been well researched and remains grounded in reality throughout the series. There’s a clear sense that the rest of the world will carry on regardless of what happens to them, cleverly contrasting the mean drudgery of the life that Osric may have led against the Vikings’ larger than life yearnings for glory and adventure and the clear sense of freedom that their way of life represents for all its dangers and deprivations. The gulf between the Norsemen’s pagan beliefs and the growth of Christianity adds to this contrast, and provides an additional level of understanding as to what makes them tick.
The series is written in the first person from Raven’s point of view, but this provides scant relief from the tension that is piled on as they continually push their luck, because this isn’t just his story. It all comes back to how you’re made to care about Sigurd and the rest of the Wolfpack, with the full knowledge that no character is safe. There’s plenty of action in each book as you’d expect, from shield walls to single duels, and I was impressed with how vividly these were portrayed, and how unforgiving the results were.
Whether you're a regular reader of historical fiction or not, read this series. It's fast, brutal, well researched, well written and an absolute blast.
Vikings excite me because I admire them and their way of life. I envy their wanderlust and their bravery. After all, the Vikings became justly feared throughout Europe as the Hammer of the North. They sailed most of the North Atlantic, reached south to North Africa and east to Russia, Constantinople and the Middle East. They intrigue me because they seem on the one hand earthy and pragmatic, and on the other spiritual and incredibly creative. Even their whole ‘creation story’ is both wondrous and bizarre. They are a contradiction - characterized by a tremendous sense of chivalry but also by barbaric cruelty. As a deeply contradictory soul myself, I find their paradoxical nature fascinating. However, it is perhaps worth considering that these paradoxes may only be seen as such because we are viewing them through our own 21st century moral lens. To a Viking, slaughter and chivalry, art, faith and war were all just aspects of existence. No one aspect more or less remarkable or worthy of deep thought than another, but simply all just a part of life.
The three Norns weaving the wyrd
And yet, it is perhaps also true that they constructed their philosophical ideals, their belief system as a way of making sense of their existence and perhaps even of justifying their aggressive outlook. After all, their gods were warrior gods. Their heaven was a warrior heaven. For a Viking if you die well you’re a hero and you might just earn a place in Odin’s meadhall, Valhöll. There you’ll feast and drink with your dead mates and ancestors until Ragnarök, when you’ll fight beside the gods in the last battle. You believe that your fate is pre-determined. Your wyrd has already been spun by the Norns, those sisters of men’s past, present and future. So you’re free to take on terrible odds in battle or brave dangerous seas. If it’s not your time to die, you should be just fine. And afterwards you’re going to have a Hell of a story to tell.
Mjolnir
Then there is making sense of the natural world around you. The crashing thunder must be Thor hurling his war hammer, Mjölnir, at the frost giants. The epic crack of a distant glacier is a frost giant’s baleful cry. A rainbow must surely be a bridge between the human world and the world of the gods.
Having said all this, I suspect most Vikings wore their faith fairly lightly. They were just too busy living their lives, seeking glory and riches, fame and recognition to worry too much about the tenets of a complex belief system. This is certainly the case for Sigurd, my favourite character from the RAVEN books. Yes, he respects the gods, but he also believes in himself first and foremost. There’s also a part of him, I believe, that enjoys spitting in the All-Father’s one eye. Sigurd dares to challenge the gods, perhaps because he knows how fickle they can be and he would rather not walk willingly into whatever ill fate awaits. Sigurd is a man who chooses his own path and this often put him at odds with Asgot who is forever trying to win the gods’ favour.
Their differences are what make my characters human. Their quirks and flaws help the reader identify with them. Raven’s inability to completely reconcile himself with Asgot’s wholesale bloodletting helps us sympathise with him. At times Raven is confused. He doesn’t know what to believe or how he should behave. He wants to fit in but he also strives to make sense of it all for himself. This makes him like us. And us like him.
MFB are very pleased to be part of the Giles Kristian Blog Tour for Odin's Wolves. I asked Giles to please write us something about the mythology of the world he's set his Raven books in and as usual, he's come up with the goods.
What I like about the Raven books is the fact that the characters are so recognisably human. They mess up, they fight, they love, they lose and they pick themselves up and carry on. What I also like about the books is that Giles writes them. This is quite obvious, I know, but what I mean is that he has this verve and enthusiasm for his writing that burns brightly. As an aspiring writer and as a reader, that verve is so incredible to see and experience in real life, that it really inspires me. And it also carries across into his writing. His voice is so recognisable in these books that it sweeps the reader headlong into further adventures. He is one of the writers where you seem to wake up from reading his books, by shaking your head physically and peering around you just to make sure you are not going to be smacked in the face by an axe or sword.
Odin's Wolves is the third in the Raven series of books and I do suggest you read them from the start as they are decidedly more-ish. My full review of Odin's Wolves will happen later this year when we host VIKING MONTH.
Giles is at Waterstones Leicester Market Street on Friday at 6:30 pm. His next web appearance will be on Monday, 18th April at www.historytellers.co.uk. Be sure to stop by there or track his movements down via his Facebook page: www.facebook.com/GilesKristian or his website: www.gileskristian.com.
For two years Osric has lived a simple life, apprentice to the mute old carpenter who took him in when others would have him cast out. But when Norsemen from across the sea burn his village they also destroy his new life, and Osric finds himself a prisoner of these warriors. Their chief, Sigurd the Lucky, believes the Norns have woven this strange boy's fate together with his own, and Osric begins to sense glorious purpose among this Fellowship of warriors.Immersed in the Norsemen's world and driven by their lust for adventure, Osric proves a natural warrior and forges a blood bond with Sigurd, who renames him Raven. But the Norsemen's world is a savage one, where loyalty is often repaid in blood and where a young man must become a killer to survive. When the Fellowship faces annihilation from ealdormanEaldred of Wessex, Raven chooses a bloody and dangerous path, accepting the mission of raiding deep into hostile lands to steal a holy book from Coenwolf, King of Mercia. There he will find much more than the Holy Gospels of St Jerome. He will find Cynethryth, an English girl with a soul to match his own. And he will find betrayal at the hands of cruel men, some of whom he regarded as friends...
An opening line that starts thus:
'I do not know where I was born. When I was young, I would sometimes dream of great rock walls rising from the sea so high that the sun's warmth never hit the cold, black water....I know nothing of my childhood, of my parents, or if I had brothers and sisters. I do not even know my birth name.'
..really does make you want to curl up and read more, doesn't it? And it now annoys me in retrospect that it's taken me a while to sit down and read Raven: Blood Eye because I could have hung around with Osric (Raven), Sigurd and the boys, a whole lot earlier. But, having said that, I strongly believe in a bit of chaos theory: things come to you when you're ready.
So, Raven came to me and I fell in love. First of all, having met Giles Kristian at the book launch for the second book: Raven: Sons of Thunder, I was struck by how charming he was, but also how immersed he was in his writing. During his speech when he thanked various people for their help he mentioned things like: steering the dragon ship along the whale road and he mentioned skalds and other words which now escape me, as it was some time ago. I initially thought, yeah yeah, Kristian, good one, playing the game, live up to the heritage and the writing and the research. But honestly, having read both these books, in rapid succession, I now suspect that that speech was probably more real than I had anticipated.
When I say this novel is immersive, I mean it. It's written in a very macho way. No, that sounds wrong. It's written in a manly way, hua! How can I describe it? The writing reflects the characters, the age and the rough camaraderie and friendship that bonded these raiders and warriors together. Therefore the use of language is strong, sometimes violently over the top, as it is seen from Osric's point of view initially and he's only a young boy.
You can't write about Vikings and tough guys without violence and death. But there are ways to do so and still retain your reader's belief in your characters and the action. Mr. Kristian manages that with devastating ease and bearing in mind, this is his debut novel, you can't help but think that maybe, just maybe, he was channeling something from a previous life? I'm kidding, of course, about the previous life thing, but honestly, the battle scenes are nasty and vicious and yet they never made me want to put the book down and I never caught myself thinking, okay, this is rubbish, it's going a bit over the top and becoming pointless and gratuitous. And yes, that rumour you've heard about the blood eagle explained in great detail, but not with relish, is as grim as you can imagine. *shudder*
The story is held together by Osric/Raven. A deeply human character with flaws, hang-ups and strengths and insecurities, we at first experience the terror of the raid on his village coupled with the fact that he can actually understand and speak these invaders' language! Having been found two years before, no one really knows anything about Osric. He's an outsider in the village, mainly because of his one red eye. The fact that he can't remember anything about where he comes from or what had happened to him, sets him apart from the small community he lives in, and he is treated a bit disdainfully.
As he's taken by Sigurd and his crew he realises it's a case of sink or swim and slowly but surely, he comes to be accepted, firstly by Sigurd, then other members of the crew. He's given his new name and a new life opens before him. The action is thrilling and wild and practically non-stop. And I'm also pleased to say that the characterisation is rich, as is the world-building.
Raven: Blood Eye is a really neat (if bloody) package that ticks all the right boxes when it comes to what epic historical fiction is all about, and then some. I've noticed some people liken it to other writers such as Bernard Cornwell, Tim Severin and others and honestly, it's as good as that and the even better thing: there is more to come.
Giles Kristian, please, don't stop writing! Raven: Blood Eye and Raven: Sons of Thunder can be found online as well as other good high street bookshops. And this is Giles' website.
